How come www.ifundinternational.com beat us despite that most links seems VERY shady?

[peterpumkineater]

How can ifundinternational.com with TONS of spammy links  rank  70 keywords in TOP20 in the competitive hard money lending industry? They seem to go AGAINS ALL WHITE HAT SEO and all rules by Panda, Penguing and Hummingbird. Just frustrating that they get away with it. What to do about it?

[MikeRoberts]

If they are, in fact, breaking guidelines that Google should be penalizing them for then there is always the spam reporting tool. https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/spamreport (you need to log in/be logged in to webmaster tools in order to use it).

[jbbattag]

There are many factors besides links that can influence rank. Have you looked at their content or quality of their website for example, how long the website has existed? I sure haven't but it is something to consider. As mentioned above, you can report anything you find to google if you really feel they have shitty links.

[RobertFisher]

Peter,

Your question is not answerable. You say how are they beating you, but you don't give your domain for a comparison. I will tell you that IMO, the worst thing we can do is to look at a site that is beating us, focus on what they are doing wrong in our eyes, and wonder about it. I suggest you ask, what are they doing better than you? It will give you a lot more mileage in addressing what may be keeping you behind.

Also, take a look at their link profile as opposed to just some of the domains. I am impressed they have gained the authority, etc. they have in right at a year. If you use a tool like Majestic, or ahrefs, you may see their links a bit differently. (I agree they do have some that are not best, but they have some good ones as well.)

I hope this helps, but I know it is probably not what you wanted to hear.

Robert

[EGOL]

I suggest you ask, what are they doing better than you? It will give you a lot more mileage in addressing what may be keeping you behind.

Wow... that is a great answer.  I've seen this same question asked hundreds of times in forums over the past ten years and this response is golden.

Nice focus, Robert.

[peterpumkineater]

The question is REALLY, why are their site not totally BLACK FLAGGED by Google, since they seem to VIOLATE EVERY RULE IN THE BOOK, yet their site is ranking? I checked their backlink profile and onsite-SEO and judging the site on that, I would NEVER guessed that the site would rank for anything at all. We're not behind, just doing white hat SEO that takes more effort and kind of surprised that they get away with this - for now anyway.

[peterpumkineater]

Thanks  A LOT! I was looking for that. I knew it was some way to report on it. Thanks a lot. Great Karma to you.

[RobertFisher]

Peter,

First and foremost, when you responded to Mike Roberts, you used caps when you thanked him A LOT! for telling you about Googles spam reporting. Then, when you responded to EGOL (Whose avatar/screenname has always been in caps), you use caps again, except it comes off as yelling. (Full disclosure, I respect EGOL very much.)
I am not the smartest SEO professional on this forum, but IMO their site does not violate every rule in the book. It may violate some, I do not know. I was responding honestly in an effort to assist you.

I looked at their backlink profile and, while it appears to have a very high link velocity and many of the links appear to be from similar sites in that industry, I do not know that those things alone will meet Google's criteria for actionable link spam. Again, I do not know. I am not screaming that you are wrong; I am stating that I have not given it the required study in order to pass a professional judgement. I thank EGOL for his comments, and I also hope you can realize that what I wrote to you originally had no judgement in it. I have been involved in Internet marketing since 1998/1999 when my first spend on AOL was monthly for banners at a reasonably high cost for the time. I was simply trying to convey to you that my experience has taught me not to waste my time on trying to figure out what someone is doing wrong and why they are getting away with it. The reason is that I can have only one result from it - _I become a victim. _

By focusing on what a competitor is doing right, I begin to learn ways to beat that competitor and others.

I have made a choice in life that I will never be a "pigeon" (I am older and this may not be common in today's lexicon so, for anyone, it means that I will go down swinging before I will resign myself to being a victim to anything.)

By virtue of living a while, I have learned that railing against those who have a better lot in life than I do is a waste of time. Taking action that changes my lot in life brings me peace.

Forever learning, so if I offended you with my original comments or if EGOL offended you with his response to my comments, please accept my apology for the both of us.

Robert

[EGOL]

If I look at the link profile of my own websites (which have never received linkbuilding services) I am shocked to see links from some awful looking sites.  I don't get excited about them because they are links from black hats and spammers who build mashup websites by slapping together information scrapped from other websites, grabbed from business directories and stolen from other sources.

If I look at the link profile of almost any other site that has been on the web pulling reasonable traffic for at least a couple of years I will see the same thing.  Even the best sites on the web attract tons of spammy links without doing anything to produce them.

So, I think that it is really hard to assess the links that you see pointing to other websites.  If you see stuff that looks like manufactured links... they probably are manufactured links but they are on spam sites of a type that google is not going to penalize you for.

If I was in the lending space I would not be surprised by very many things.  And if a website does have really spammy link.... they might have been disavowed a long time ago.  Keep in mind that disavow has been around for a couple years or more and tons of people - especially in the lending industry - have disavowed an awful lot of links.